Amazon Kindle Paperwhite UK release confirmed, 25 October from £109

Amazon has announced the arrival of the latest in its series of Kindle ebook readers, the Kindle Paperwhite, for the UK following a successful launch in the US.

As with the US version, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite has plenty going for it, but the part you’ll want to know about most of all is, yes, it does have an illuminated display.

This front-lit, not back-lit, device has a superbright, white light, offering 25 per cent better contrast alongside a display with a pixel density of 212ppi - that’s a whole 62 per cent more pixels than before.

The so-called Paperwhite display is still touch-enabled with a capacitive screen and works by means of a kind of flattened-out fibre optic source. Nano-imprinting technology is used to keep the lighting as even as possible and you'll still get huge battery life with up to eight weeks from a single charge.

The frame of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is 9.1mm thick and has no buttons whatsoever. It’s black, which will help show off that bright screen, and still has the X-Ray feature from the Kindle Touch.

Naturally, you still get free cloud storage and the wonderful Whispersync to ensure you pick up reading no matter where you left off.

The new Kindle Paperwhite can be yours for £109 and Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is £169. Both are available for pre-order and will begin shipping on 25 October. You can pre-order at: www.amazon.co.uk/kindlepaperwhite.

Furthermore, Amazon has confirmed that with the introduction of Kindle Paperwhite in the UK, the company is also bringing the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library to the UK.

With an Amazon Prime membership, Kindle owners will be able to choose from more than 200,000 books to borrow free of charge - including all seven Harry Potter books - as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.

With an annual Prime membership for just £49, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is included at no additional cost.

Books can be borrowed and read on all Kindle E-Ink and Kindle Fire devices, as well as the new Paperwhite.

Stuart has been a tech journalist since 1998 and written for a number of publications around the world. Regularly turning up on television, radio and in newspapers, Stuart has played with virtually every gadget available.